Klytaimnestra, Who Stayed at Home

A really interesting read but one you need to stay alert for - the author switches viewpoints every so often without telling you who is speaking (though, to be fair, there was never a time when I didn't realise what was going on). I found the spelling of Klytaimnestra slightly jarring at first but got used to it. The real strength of this novel is that it sticks to the original story and explains how each character felt, hence why they acted as they did - by the end I felt real sympathy for the heroine, Klytaimnestra, and real antipathy for Elektra, her daughter, but that was just me taking sides - the author gives each person's viewpoint admirable balance. I enjoyed the novel and think anyone who likes the Bronze Age as a setting would find it well worth reading. It's pretty unusual to find an ancient Greek female as the protagonist, more often writers seem to prefer warrior males such as Achilles, Hector and Theseus. For other 'real' ancient Greek women you need to turn to Christa Wolf, Marion Zimmer Bradley or Ursula Le Guin.